Introduction
8 May 2004:
12:00p:
The landlady, Ms. Bentchikou, knocked on my door—she’ll move me tonight to an apartment on a lower floor. I assume it’ll lack the sight of the rooftops outside my window—how much more Hollywood can you get?—but at least I’m assured a place.
1:40p:
I’m back at Notre Dame, only a few blocks from my apartment, waiting in line under an enclosed tin shelter alongside the cathedral, waiting to go up into the roof. I wandered over after settling my business with my temporary landlady, with a brief browse inside the cramped confines of the Shakespeare & Co. bookstore. I’ll have to come back later.
The weather is filthy: cold, windy, and rainy—heavy rain, as I can see looking through the doorway outside. What strikes me is how many people don’t have umbrellas, and sometimes not even proper raincoats.
They’re out of English brochures, so I took the German and Japanese versions.
2:20p:
Up on the roof. Lord, it was like going up on the deck of a ship during a storm—though admittedly the deck didn’t move around much. Also, not as many steps are needed to climb up to the deck of the average ship—the “Panoramic View” climb from the halfway point took 125 steps alone. Still, a wonderful view.
Of course, I screwed up transferring the pictures to my portable storage unit and lost all of them. Damn.
But I went into the cathedral proper, hoping to dry off a bit if nothing else. And these pictures I didn't lose.
